The fact that lightning and negatively charged rain provide continued descent of electrons to earth should be telling us that our atmosphere is endowed with a huge surplus of electrons. Throughout our world, negative ions and electrons at any stratum are engaged in an equalized lateral spacing within the bubble-like locus of a spheroidal shell at that height. Lest we puzzle that such spacing should tend to increase unduly as we contemplate mutual repulsion, we need only factor in the consequential convergence of electrons that would necessarily result upon the other side of the earth as the consequence of any nearside over-spacing. Such an atmosphere hovers over the intense congestion of electrons within solid or watery surface below it and beneath a ponderous reservoir of electrons exaulted above it as a thin filmed bubble: Our ionosphere, or more appropiately, our electrosphere. Violent distortions batter the ionosphere. Repulsion by the sun tears it at the edge of darkness, pushing it downward on the day side and outward at night. It is supported up there only by repulsion from below, and owes its extreme altitude to the atmosphere’s density of negative ions. It drops sprites of electron flow when lightning discharge yanks the bottom out of such verticle support. It probably sags over the oceans where minimal Fairweather Current should be expected.
The default mechanism for storage of electrical energy in such an atmosphere is simply the forcing of existing negative ions or electrons into closer proximity. It seems justified to intuitively relate ion density with voltage that would be measurable between an unbiased reference inherent to material bearing equal counts of particles of either polarity. A virtual electrical circuit can be visualized between the zero ion density to be expected below our planet’s surface where any particles of electrical imbalance would retreat to surface or center, and above the ionosphere where a distant center of great gravity balances the predominately localized electrical repulsion. The electrical situation would be megavolts of negative voltage due to intense electron density at the planet’s surface, a coronal voltage drop encountered at the interface of surface and atmosphere, and a great minus to positive voltage drop between earth and the ionosphere as product of the resulting current source and atmospheric resistance. To the extent that electrons on the ionosphere remain at transiently fixed altitude testifies to electrical neutrality above it. Unimportant simplification is admitted to here as we ignore electrons detained enroute by intervening atoms and overlook the meager voltage drop encountered with the earth/atmosphere corona. Where neutrality is attributed to the verticle extremes, we take license to deem the seperated sites equivalent to each other. The whole point of posing the path as equivalent to an electrical circuit is to retread long-practiced circuit theory to a phenomenon that has somehow evaded attention. Similar logic entertains descent of electrons in a complementary equivalence. Electrical disturbances stash electrons into the earth where most travel to sites of greatest global electron congestion at elevated locations. Vigorous disruptions of vertical support for ionospheric electrons (i.e. lightning) spurs atmospheric refills from the ionosphere in the form of sprites and jets. Broadly distrubuted plantings of electrons (i.e. rain with significant negative electric charge) is more likely to provoke a mere sagging of the ionosphere.
We stand on “earth ground” synonymous with the electrician’s term for zero volts. It is easy to overlook that we are like birds on high tension wires: we step upon the highest gobal-scaled intensity of electron concentration for the planet. Assume “earth ground” to be minus three million volts. Then, any voltage reading we get with earth ground as our reference will display voltage difference between minus 3 megavolts and the voltage presented to our “hot lead”. Hence, a reading of +100 volts at our voltmeter would signify a minus 2, 999, 900 volts at the hot lead if we only knew. A voltage reading of zero would represent three megavolts to be presented to the hot lead. The bias voltage produced by imbalance of the polarities of charged particles contained by a planet can hardly be measured with a voltmeter. The red and black leads are soaking in the same soup. No difference voltage from such a source can exist! Ions that are free but not moving represent nothing about energy. They are just stuff. They don’t sting. They won’t bother you if you just leave them alone. A resting boulder turns no engines. A fluid environment of ions will distribute itself toward the nullification of all net forces of relative particle migration. It is the sorry lot of any planetary natives surrounded by negative ions that they will mistakenly recognize restorations from ionic disturbances as energetic manifestations of an environment of positive ions. The positive voltage they measure in their atmosphere is due, not to a paucity of electrons, but to a transient electric current that lasts forever because of charged particles that are eternally re-disturbed by dynamics of the atmosphere. Rocket scientists have been reduced to announcing the electrosphere to be electrically positive while meanwhile back at the ranch the electrosphere is composed of nothing but electrons! A caveat that here, by “electrosphere”, the intended subject is of the discrete reflecting mechanism that returns crisp short wave signals, not the big thick boiling bag of ions distributed about a broad range of altitude.
Delivering electrons downward is the endothermic process of pushing them against the force of global repulsion. Condensation of negatively ionized water vapor forces electrons/ions into closer quarters due to liquification and into further crowding as increased droplet size reduces proportion of the surface area to which ions are restricted. Global storage of electrical energy is increased with the fall of negatively charged rain as well as from electrons delivered to earth in lightning strikes.
As a thunderbolt becomes imminent, the effective nullification of intermolecular gravity as it is countered by electrostatic repulsion keeps outer surfaces of such raindrops from solidifying at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees while the electrically neutral water within remains frozen. This has led to a somewhat popular belief that the rubbing of ice particles against supercooled water droplets is somehow what brings on all of the commotion of thunderbolts. After events of lightning, a relatively neutral electrical atmosphere remaining would most likely change supercooled droplets with frozen centers into clusters of graupel. We might expect some muddling of cause and effect to convince some of earth’s curious natives that graupel causes lightning.
Since electrons dwelling upon the outer extremes of these orbs have found their resting places, we can avoid the confusion of calling these particles a charge upon their hosts: The downward displacement of electrons constitutes the energizing process of endothermic migration. If we speak of "charging" as the energizing of a planet, the provision of excess electrons to the planet would fit the bill for any external influences. For internal influence, "charging" of a planet would be the inward displacement of the majority charge.
Electrons that have been pushed closer together represent an investment of potential energy. Nature’s favorite means of crowding electrons is found in the condensation of water vapor after it has absorbed its share of atmospheric electrons. Gathering scattered vapors into small particles of water or ice begins such phenomena, and further intensies of ion compression advances as such droplets merge or grow by any means, due to the fact that all such ionized particles become confined into the outer surfaces of their little hosts. Even as lightning unleashes this localized store of potential energy, global endothermic effects lodge part of that energy by virtue of continued descent of electrons away from the ionosphere. That outer shell of electrons represents vast reservoir of idle electrons that serve as infrastructure for forces that can push them down against their repulsion from the earth. The extreme limit for energy storage with a given electron is reached when that electron becomes embedded into earth surface as occurs with fall of a droplet of negatively charged rain or a normal stroke of lightning.
